Weavers
Weavers Weavers are a species of intelligent insectoids whose population is distributed in a diaspora across most of the Nesarian Empire. The Weavers do not possess their own language and instead largely assimilated into their host nations, where they are known variously as Weavers, Spinners and Spider-Folk in the local tongues. Weavers were first recorded in 800BC in Osdarth, and the earliest remains of a Weaver are dated to 940BC. The Weavers exhibit somewhat extreme sexual dimorphism, to the extent that it is possible (and fairly frequent among the uneducated) to mistake the males and females as two different species. Some theorise that the Weavers originated in the Dreadlands, being a type of Dreadfolk, and therefore demons. There is no consensus as to what the Weavers themselves believe, and there is no evidence to prove the demon theory. It is fairly clear that the Weavers were created deliberately and designed carefully by some magical means, as their biology simply could not have come about naturally. This is particularly evident when considering the humanlike heads of the females and the absurd sexual dimorphism, which has led Weavers to half-jokingly suggest that their creator had a very cruel sense of humour. Males The diminutive males are arachnoid in appearance, roughly equivalent in size to a wolf. Their body is segmented into two parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen, much like a spider is. This body is held up by eight legs, which compared to most spiders are fairly short. Their brain and lungs is contained within their cephalothorax, and the other organs are within the abdomen. In place of where a spinneret might be found on a spider (at the end of the abdomen) is their reproductive organ. Their body is covered in black segmented plates of tough chitin, which is normally matte but grows lustrous when the male is ready to mate. The males see through two sets of eyes - two large front-facing ones and two small ones facing sideways. They possess a weak paralysing venom, which can immobilise their prey for up to five minutes, but usually causes nothing more than muscle cramping in people. The males are beast-like not only phyiscally, but mentally. Their intelligence is comparable to that of a dog, and their main concerns are eating and mating. The males live for 25-30 years, reaching maturity after 7-8 years. Every four years after reaching maturity, the males will be in heat and ready to mate for about two weeks. If the male cannot find a Weaver female to mate with, they will grow desperate and seek to mate with anything that can physically be receptive to them. The males are often treated as pests, including by the females, due to their animalistic nature and tendency to attempt to rape anything that vaguely looks like a female. The females typically have active disdain for the males, and would likely not tolerate their presence at all if they were not necessary for reproduction, as the females do not seem to even find the males physically attractive, and the females do not seem to take any pleasure whatsoever from the act of reproduction. Females The females are humanoid in appearance, standing between 5'6" and 5'10", and are similar in appearance to a Cythen, often being mistaken for them by those who have little or no experience with Cytheni. The entire body except for the head is covered in a segmented exoskeleton (which is in addition to an internal skeleton) made of black lustrous chitin, the gaps between the plates of chitin revealing black flesh underneath. The plates of their exoskeleton are faintly reminiscent of plate armour, their forearms and shoulders in particular resembling gauntlets and pauldrons. Weaver females have somewhat humanlike heads, with dark grey skin (and often black freckles), and hair that varies between jet black and platinum white. They possess four eyes much like the males, but all four are forward facing, and the second smaller set of eyes is above and outwards from the first large set. Both sets are somewhat slanted, with black sclerae and amber irides. Much like the Cytheni, they have antennae atop their forehead, which act to detect smell in addition to the nose, and also have some capability of picking up electrical signals. Their teeth are a little sharper than those of Humans, and their canines are longer, particularly in the top set of teeth. Their hands end in long pointed fingers, each of which contains a retractable spinneret, from which the Weavers take their name. The silk of Weavers is produced within the body, but transported to the fingers. Unlike the silk of spiders, Weaver silk is not particularly sticky, but it is even stronger compared to its mass, and a little brighter in colour. Weavers often made - and still do make - an absolute fortune producing exclusive silk fabrics and garments; the first recorded Weaver, who lived in Osdarth in 800BC, was a tailor. As well as clothes, Weaver silk is excellent for use in gambeson and other padding, and for making ropes. After the females have their eggs fertilised by the males, they are incubated within the body for about 1 week and then laid, where they take approximately 7 further weeks to hatch. A female usually lays between four and six eggs at a time, only one or two of which will be females, and when they are laid they about twice as large as chicken eggs. The eggs are slightly transparent, with weak, soft shells for the first few days after being laid, and the shell continues to grow in size during this time, hardening and becoming grey and transluscent as it does. The eggs are laid approximately once a month regardless of whether they have been fertilised or not. Unfertilised eggs are entirely transparent and very soft, and the size of marbles. This process can cause temporary hormonal imbalances, but this lasts for merely a day or two and comes with no pain, unlike the menstruation period of hominid females. The females live for around 80 years, the oldest on record living to 92. They grow to maturity after approximately 20 years. Unlike the males, they do not go into heat, and are capable of breeding at any time. As mentioned earlier, the females do not appear to take pleasure from mating with the males (or, as could be more accurately described, letting themselves be mated with) and are not sexually attracted to the males - however, they certainly can feel sexual pleasure and attraction, as evidenced by relations with other species, which is perhaps further evidence that the species of Weavers was deliberately designed by a magical creator. The average IQ of the females is approximately 102, more or less the same as the Humans in the Empire, although inferior to the Cytheni and Elfkin.